Rhetorical Means and Ethos in Matt Ridley's Passage Lighten Up, Sir David, Our Wildlife is Safe

In “Lighten Up, Sir David, Our Wildlife is Safe,” Matt Ridley expertly combines audience-appropriate, simple diction with abundant evidence to counter the Malthusian-esque concern raised by Sir David Attenborough. Throughout the passage, Ridley also uses a clearly organized structure and key rhetorical appeals, such as appeals to ethos, to build his argument that human population will not leave substantial negative effects on the environment in coming decades.

As the passage was first published in the Times newspaper in London, Ridley cleverly fine-tunes his writing style to the demands of writing for a large and varied audience. This can clearly be seen through the passage’s organization, which is centered around two premises of Sir Attenborough’s argument: that the world will be more crowded and have less wildlife in 100 years. After introducing these premises in paragraph 1, Ridley moves on to framing his contentions in paragraph 3. Each of his contentions are explained in two easy-to-follow paragraphs: paragraphs 4-5 and 6-7 respectively, before a neat conclusion is reached in paragraph 8. Such straightforward organization ensures Ridley’s message is delivered for maximum impact, and allows his ideas to shine loud and clear.

But Ridley does not simply stop at easy-to-follow organization. He skillfully uses relatively simple diction and sentence structure to increase his audience reach. While some parts of the essay can get technical and data-heavy, such as paragraph 4, Ridley makes sure to utilize a casual tone to maintain audience interest. For example, Ridley employs casual and simple diction such as “richest countries” (paragraph 7) instead of “more economically developed countries,” as well as colorful, everyday words such as “spring,” “budged,” “pleasant,” and happy.” (paragraph 8) All these techniques serve to shrink the distance between the writer and reader, with the ultimate effect of the article reading like a friendly conversation. This makes for an excellent persuasive technique, of course -- who would not trust a friend?

Now, that is not to downplay the role of data in this essay, which is to provide a strong basis for Ridley’s claims. However, while the figures used in this passage do add to logical reasoning and evidence, they also serve a much more important purpose: to increase the author’s credibility. In countering the claims of a well-known naturalist and thus expert in the field, Ridley heavily uses appeals to ethos to solidify his credibility. Besides usage of quantitative figures, as in the last sentence of paragraph 4, Ridley also makes another notable appeal to ethos: through convincing his audience that he shares their moral beliefs. Rather than attacking Sir Attenborough’s argument as unnecessary, for example by claiming that humans do not benefit from nature or wildlife, Ridley instead takes a more nuanced approach. By describing Sir Attenborough’s viewpoint as “one I used to share,” (paragraph 2) Ridely assures his audience that he is no coldhearted monster who only wants technological innovation, even to the detriment of the environment. This reassurance allows the audience to trust the author more, opening a key door to persuasion.

Ridley’s expert understanding of his audience, revealed through diction, organization, and ethos appeals, are ultimately what allows him to successfully build a convincing argument.